Stupid in Love
by fuschiadreams
Summary: Danny has always been in love with Riley. Always. What happens when he finally tells her? One shot so far, set in high school. To be continued. Rated T for later chapters. First submission so be gentle, please. Reviews are alway always always appreciated! DannyxRiley. Un-beta'd so all mistakes are mine.
1. Chapter 1

I'm stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. School, classes, grades. Girl X. I'm definitely stupid about her. Stupid in love. God, she's amazing, though. Too good for me, too good for anyone. Brilliant, funny, beautiful. She's always been beautiful. So beautiful sometimes I can't take it. Every day, always. There was one time, especially, in high school. She was sitting in the bleachers, in her field hockey jersey, doing homework.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey, Wheeler." She said, without looking up.

"What 'cha doin?"

"Studying," she replied, shortly.

"Studying what?"

"Um…" she sighed. "Everything. Final are coming up."

"Oh, right."

"You should be studying, too," she said

"Yeah," I said, waving my hand through the air dismissively.

"Danny, you really need to keep your grades up," she said, tapping her pencil to her textbook. "That scholarship is only applies to people with a 3.0"

"I know, I know," I said. "But why study when you can party?" I jostled her shoulder and she laughed. That was my favorite thing to do. Making her laugh.

"Danny," she said, disapprovingly. Some of the sting was taken out, though, due to her million-watt smile.

"Well, will you help me?" I asked.

"With what, studying?"

"Yeah. Be my tutor, Riles." I said. She raised an eyebrow at me. "Please?" I began poking her. "Pleasepleaseplease?"

"Fine! I will. But only for you." She relented. "Don't go advertising my services around campus."

"I won't," I held up my hand "Scout's honor."

"AND..." she started, "you have to promise you'll stay on topic."

"Me? I'm always on topic." She looked skeptically at me. "Alright, I _promise!_"

"Okay, I believe you." She said, turning back to her textbook.

"When do we start?"

* * *

"Okay, so when a cell divides, it goes through what's called mitosis... well, when it's a eukaryotic cell, but when it's..." she paused, seeing my confused look. "We'll get to that part later."

"Later is good." I said.

"Alright, so mitosis," she continued.

"Riles," I whined.

"Danny, you promised -" she said, sighing.

"I know I promised," I said, "but it's so boring! Who cares about cells, anyway?"

"Um..." she started, "how about biologists,chemists, physicists, and hockey stars about to take bio finals?" She poked my shoulder.

"Alright, alright, alright. But we've been studying for..." I checked my watch. "Two hours. Can't we take a break?"

"Well," she said. "I guess one break won't hurt."

"YES!" I jumped up from my chair. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

"So, what do you want to do?"

"We could grab something to eat." I suggested, raising my eyebrows. "I have the car for the afternoon."

"I could go for some fries," she smiled and closed her textbook.

"Alright, Mickey D's it is!"

I flashed a smile at her.

"Did I hear something about McDonald's?" Riley and I looked to the doorway, where Ben leaned relaxed against it.

"Uh… yeah." I said.

"You want to come, Ben?" Riley asked. She twisted her hands together, looking way too nervous for my liking.

"I'm up for it," Ben replied. "We leaving now?"

"Yeah, I'm driving." I said, pushing past him.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, guys…" Riley began.

"So, Riles," I mocked.

"What do you think of Sam?" she asked.

"Sam?" I replied, putting down my burger. "Like… Sam 'Benchwarmer' Franklin?"

"Yes, that Sam," she said. She popped a fry into her mouth.

"Uh…" I took a sip of my root beer. "Why?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Ben asked.

"No reason," she said as she finished chewing. She promptly put another fry into her mouth. She was nervous. "We've just been hanging out a lot at Danny's games, you know, me spectator-ing, he benchwarming," she paused to take a big gulp of her drink. "He's nice."

"Yeah…" Ben said. "If you like that sort of thing."

"What do you mean?" I asked, turning towards him.

"What sort of thing?" Riley asked simultaneously. She was looking at Ben sternly.

"I mean… I like the guy, but…" Ben pulled at my collar and lowered his voice. "He's a geek, Riley."

"Huh," I said. Was Sam really a geek? Sure he read books a lot and most stuff he says I don't really get, but… geek?

"What's that supposed to mean, Ben?" Riley asked, accusatorily.

"I'm just saying, he's… I don't know-" Ben started.

"What? So just because he doesn't look cool and act suave all the time means he's a geek?" She threw her napkin on the table. "Well, we'll make the perfect couple, then, huh? Fatpants and the Geek, right?" She pushed away from the table and stormed off.

"Riley, I didn't mean-" Ben started. She was already gone.

"Ben, you're such a dick sometimes," I started to get up but he put a hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I know, I feel like shit, okay?" he said, standing up. "I'll go talk to her." He disappeared behind the corner where Riley had gone. A few minutes later, I got antsy and followed. Hearing them 'having an adult conversation' (as my dad like to call it), I stopped just short of the corner.

"You know I didn't mean it that way, don't you?" Ben asked.

"Well, how did you mean it, Ben?" Riley replied, angrily.

"Riley, I just don't think that guy's good enough for you, you know?"

"Why isn't he good enough?"

"Because you're awesome, and you deserve someone awesome," Ben replied. He flashed a smile at her. "You're Fatpants, ya know?" Riley waited a few beats, sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she said, breaking out into a smile.

"Alriiiight, there she is!" Ben laughed. "Bring it in." They hugged. "We good?"

"Yeah, we're good, dummy," Riley said, pushing Ben.

That's how this stuff usually went down. Ben was a jerk, Riley got upset, and Ben went and talked his way out of it, smoothing everything over like a pro. Riley was about as useless around Ben as I was around her.


End file.
